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The College Press Niv Commentary Ezra–Nehemiah THE COLLEGE PRESS NIV COMMENTARY EZRA–NEHEMIAH THE COLLEGE PRESS NIV COMMENTARY EZRA–NEHEMIAH KEITH N. SCHOVILLE, PH.D. Old Testament Series Co-Editors: Terry Briley, Ph.D. Paul Kissling, Ph.D. Lipscomb University Great Lakes Christian College COLLEGE PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY Joplin, Missouri Copyright © 2001 College Press Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved Printed and Bound in the United States of America All Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Schoville, Keith N. Ezra-Nehemiah / Keith N. Schoville. p. cm. — (The College Press NIV commentary. Old Testament series) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-89900-884-4 1. Bible. O.T. Ezra—Commentaries. 2. Bible. O.T. Nehemiah—Commentaries. I. Title. II. Series. BS1355.53.S36 2001 222'.7077—dc21 2001047043 A WORD FROM THE PUBLISHER Years ago a movement was begun with the dream of uniting all Christians on the basis of a common purpose (world evangelism) under a common authority (the Word of God). The College Press NIV Commentary Series is a serious effort to join the scholarship of two branches of this unity movement so as to speak with one voice concerning the Word of God. Our desire is to provide a resource for your study of the Old Testament that will benefit you whether you are preparing a Bible School lesson, a sermon, a college course, or your own personal devotions. Today as we survey the wreckage of a broken world, we must turn again to the Lord and his Word, unite under his banner and communicate the life-giving message to those who are in desperate need. This is our purpose. 5 ABBREVIATIONS ABD . Anchor Bible Dictionary ANET . Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament Ant . Antiquities (Flavius Josephus) BA . Biblical Archaeologist BAR . Biblical Archaeology Review BASOR . Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research IDB . Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible ISBE . International Standard Bible Encyclopedia JBL . Journal of Biblical Literature JSOT . Journal for the Study of the Old Testament KJV . King James Version LXX . Septuagint Macc . Maccabees (Apocryphal Book) NBD . New Bible Dictionary NEAEH . The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land NEB . New English Bible NRSV . New Revised Standard Version OEANE . The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East RSV . Revised Standard Version ZAW . Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 7 Simplified Guide to Hebrew Writing Heb. Translit. Pronunciation guide letter a ’ Has no sound of its own; like smooth breathing mark in Greek b b Pronounced like English B or V g g Pronounced like English G d d Pronounced like English D h h Pronounced like English H w w As a consonant, pronounced like English V or German W W û Represents a vowel sound, pronounced like English long OO wO ô Represents a vowel sound, pronounced like English long O z z Pronounced like English Z j Á Pronounced like German and Scottish CH and Greek c (chi) f Ë Pronounced like English T y y Pronounced like English Y k/˚ k Pronounced like English K l l Pronounced like English L m/µ m Pronounced like English M n/ˆ n Pronounced like English N s s Pronounced like English S [ ‘ Stop in breath deep in throat before pronouncing the vowel p/π p/ph Pronounced like English P or F x/≈ ı Pronounced like English TS/TZ q q Pronounced very much like k (k) r r Pronounced like English R c ◊ Pronounced like English S, much the same as s v ÷ Pronounced like English SH t t/th Pronounced like English T or TH Note that different forms of some letters appear at the end of the word (written right to left), as in πp'k; (ka¯phaph, “bend”) and ˚l,m, (melek, “king”). Vowels in Hebrew (except where the w is used to represent a vowel sound), are represented by “vowel points” added to the consonant. For example: h' (ha, “the”). The letter yod (y, y) also becomes a part of certain vowel sounds, as in the conjunction yki (kî, “that”). Originally, Hebrew was written as “unpointed” text, with just the consonants. For convenience, the different vowel points are shown below on the letter Aleph (a). a; a¯ Pronounced not like long A in English, but like the broad A or AH sound a' a The Hebrew short A sound, but more closely resembles the broad A (pronounced for a shorter period of time) than the English short A a, e Pronounced like English short E ae e¯ Pronounced like English long A, or Greek h (eta) ai i Pronounced like English short I ai î The same vowel point is sometimes pronounced like yai (see below) a; o This vowel point sometimes represents the short O sound ao o¯ Pronounced like English long O au u The vowel point u sometimes represents a shorter U sound and au u¯ is sometimes pronounced like the W (û, see above) ya, ê Pronounced much the same as ae yae ê Pronounced much the same as ae yai î Pronounced like long I in many languages, or English long E a] ¿ An unstressed vowel sound, like the first E in the word “severe” a’, a}, a‘ o˘, a˘,˘ e Shortened, unstressed forms of the vowels a;, a', and a,, pro- nounced very similarly to a] PREFACE A biblical writer once noted that “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body” (Eccl 12:12). He expressed that opinion long before the invention of the printing press and our age of computerized word processing, in those ancient days when composition was laboriously done by the hand of scribes. This commentary is another book. It is a book about anoth- er ancient product of the pen, the biblical book of Ezra–Nehemiah. The process of producing it has been a labor of love as I have engaged the words, thoughts, and times of two exemplary servants of the Lord our God. Ezra was himself a writer, and Nehemiah was an able, literate person who had attained a position of exceptional responsibility in the highest levels of the Persian government. Both of them left their marks on Jerusalem and its renewed community in the aftermath of the exile. Their personal accounts were aug- mented by other available sources in the hands of the unidentified author of the work that bears their names. My desire is that you will come to understand and appreciate that final product. The process of writing this commentary has been long and ardu- ous. But I have had the benefit of others who have studied Ezra–Nehemiah before. Every page bears the sometimes-veiled influ- ence of commentators whom I have read, drawn on, and admired for their contributions. The study of Scripture is a never-ending process in which each generation of scholars attempts to explain and enlighten his or her present generation. We owe much to those who have gone before. Writing a work is one thing; publishing it is quite another. I want to express my deep appreciation for the contribution the College Press editors and staff have made to the final result of my efforts. We may count ourselves blessed to be able to benefit from such ded- icated and capable practitioners of the art of publishing. May our 11 PREFACE COLLEGE PRESS NIV COMMENTARY joint efforts find favor in the sight of our Lord and value to our readers. Keith N. Schoville Professor Emeritus Hebrew and Semitic Studies University of Wisconsin–Madison 12 INTRODUCTION THE PLACE OF EZRA–NEHEMIAH IN THE BIBLE When we open the Bible to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we find them tucked in between Chronicles and Esther. They are among the books we call “historical.” That seems appropriate because Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther provide us with information and insights into the circumstances of God’s people in the aftermath of the exile in Babylon. The history of Israel and Judah before the exile is contained primarily in the other historical books, from Joshua through the end of 2 Kings. Yet the present location of Ezra and Nehemiah was not always where we find them today. They are in their present location because that is where they were placed in the first translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into another language — Greek. That translation, the Septuagint (LXX), was begun by approximately 250 B.C. The order of the biblical books in the Septuagint was carried over into Latin translations, set- ting the pattern for subsequent European translations, including our English Bibles. But in Jewish Bibles Ezra and Nehemiah are joined as a single book and located in the last section of the Hebrew Bible. The Jewish canon has three major sections. The first and most esteemed is the Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Law of Moses; anoth- er name for it is the Pentateuch, “the (book of) five books.”1 The second section of the Hebrew canon is the Prophets, further divided between the Former and the Latter prophets. The Former Prophets include Joshua, Judges, Samuel (1 & 2), and Kings (1 & 2). These are considered four books; the division of Samuel and Kings 1Pentateuch is derived from Gk. pente, “five” + teuchos, “a book.” 13 INTRODUCTION COLLEGE PRESS NIV COMMENTARY (as well as Chronicles) into two books each occurred with the trans- lation of the LXX. This was necessary because Hebrew is written without vowels, while vowel-letters are essential to Greek.
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